Basement membranes are widely distributed in animal tissues. These membranes occur as sheets of extracellular material lying between epithelial and endothelial cells and function as tissue support and medium through which tissue fluid containing nutrients and metabolites can diffuse between cells and capillaries. At present only a very limited amount of information is available about basement membrane structure. This research project will be concerned with the chemical and physical characterization of basement membrane subunits and the elucidation of the organization of these subunits in the native state. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Freytag, J. W., M. Ohno, and B. G. Hudson. Bovine renal glomerular basement membrane. Assessment of proteolysis during isolation. Biochem. Biophys. Research Communications. 72, 796-802 (1976).